Cable Briefs

Press, 7 April 1978, Page 6

Cable Briefs

Weapons misused? ! l u The American Secretary of State (Mr Cyrus Vance) had said that Israel may have misused American weapons during its invasion of southern Lebanon but said he would not recommend thatj any sanctions be imposed as a result. A 1952 agreement with Israel states that any weapons received from the United States should be used only for defensive purposes and not for acts of aggression. Reporting to Congress, as he is required to do if any violations of the agreement occur, Mr Vance sa‘d that because Israel had accepted a United Nations resolution to withdraw, he had recommended that the President not take any further action. — Washington.

Jobless protest Millions of Western European workers have walked off the job for at least an hour, rallied inside their plants, or demonstrated m the streets to protest against rising unemployment. It was the first Europe-wide actioi day called by the European Trade Union Confederatior on the eve of a Common Market summit meeting ir Copenhagen to discuss ;h< region’s more than sevei million unemployed. — I Brussels.

Ex-model jailed Lady Barbara Beaumont the 51-year-old former wife of a baronet, has been jaileo for 18 months after being found guilty of supplying heroin. The prosecution hac alleged that she receivec large sums of money foi selling drugs and probabh used it to pay her hotel bills at the $45-a-night Royal Lancaster. But Lady Beaumont told the Knightsbridge Crown Court her life-styk was. financed by a mystery lover, whom she refused to name, who gave her up to $550 a week. Lady Beaumont, a former model and actress has been a registered addict for more than 20 years, but she told the court she had now stopped taking the drug. —London.

Portugal pay up

The Portuguese Prime (Minister (Dr Mario Soares) has announced big wage rises on the eve of the debate on the Budget — a step welcomed by the Communists. Emerging trom a camnet session, the Socialist leader said minimum wages for rural workers would be! increased by 31.4 per cent to SNZI3O a month and for urban workers by 26.7 per cent to SNZISO a month.

Painting slashed

A 31-year-old man pulled' a knife and sliced three long cuts in Vincent van Gogh’s La Berceuse painting at the Amsterdam Municipal Museum on Wednesday, officials have said. The canvas, a portrait of a French '! model, Augustine Roulin, iwas painted in 1889. A museum spokesman estimated I its value at SNZ4OO,OOO and I said it would take months to ■repair. The man, who enterled the museum as a specta- ■ tor, was overpowered by .guards and handed over to the police after the attack. — Amsterdam. Shooting arrest A man has been detained in connection with the assassination last week of the black Namibian leader. Chief Clemens Kapuuo, the Administrator-General for Namibia (South-West Africa) (Judge Marthinus Steyn) has said. Judge Steyn said, “I don’t know whether he will be charged or not.” Chief Kapuuo, who was 55, and president of the multiDemocratic Turnhalle Alliance party, was widely .considered a likely candidate for first president of an independent Namibia. He was shot dead on March 27 i outside his store in the 'Katatura black township on the outskirts of Windhoek. — Windhoek. 6